Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for the 2012 Female Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation on the back of an impressive performance in the season which had seen her win a bronze medal in London Olympics.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal's poor form in the international arena continued as she crashed out of the $300,000 Singapore Super Series after losing to Eriko Hirose of Japan in a hard-fought three-game battle in her opening round women's singles match in Singapore.
Far from mourning the end of her brief reign as the world number one, shuttler Saina Nehwal is happy that she at least made it to where no other non-Chinese could reach in the last four years.
Saina Nehwal finally got her passport renewed after much dilly-dallying by the authorities, clearing her way to participate in the World Super Series Masters Badminton final in Malaysia from December 18. Saina had qualified for the Yonex Sunrise World super Series Masters finals starting on Thursday after two of the Chinese shuttlers pulled out of the event, making way for the Hyderabadi girl to participate in the prestigious event.
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 7, Friday, August 2, 2024:
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out after a first-round defeat, but P Kashyap and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes afloat, wining their opening men's singles matches in the Asian Badminton Championship in Suwon, Korea, on Wednesday. World No 8 and seventh seed Saina put up a brave effort but eventually ran out of steam against defending champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, losing 21-14, 14-21, 12-21 in a 40-minute battle in the women's singles.
Indian shuttlers had a bad day at the French Super Series, as Saina Nehwal and three others lost in the second round, in Paris, on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal's hopes of winning her maiden 'World Super Series Finals title this year went up in smoke as she lost her semi-final clash against top seed and current Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in a three-game encounter.
She is inching closer to being among the world's top five and is tipped to be number one in the next couple of years but ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal says being numero uno is still a very distant dream.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her fine form, beating Ukrainian Larysa Gryga in straight games to advance to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing on Sunday. Saina beat Gryga 21-18, 21-10 to advance to the last 16, where she will face the winner of the match between world number three Hong Kong's Chen Wang and Slovakia's Eva Sladekova.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal played her heart out but eventually ran out of steam as French Hongyan Pi beat her in a gruelling quarterfinal encounter of the Malaysian Super Series in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Asked about Saina Nehwal, whose 2012 London Games bronze medal winning show was a path breaker for Indian women's badminton, Padukone is confident that the 26-year-old former World number one will be regain her best form.
World No 1 Saina Nehwal is all set to defend her women's singles title at the Australian Open super series .
The London Olympics bronze medallist displaced Spain's Carolina Marin, who defeated her in the women's final of the World Championships in Jakarta last Sunday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Saina Nehwal stormed into the women's singles quarter-finals at the World Badminton Championships at the Wembley Arena, in London, on Thursday. The world No 6 Indian ace was leading 21-3, 13-5 when her opponent, Pui Yin Yi of Hong Kong, seeded 14th, retired from the third round match.
Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal retained the men's and women's singles titles at the National Badminton Championship.
In the absence of top Chinese shuttlers, Indian ace Saina Nehwal has been seeded number one and handed a relatively easy draw in the upcoming Yonex Sunrise Indian Open badminton tournament, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from April 23-28.
Terming the Siri Fort stadium as her happy hunting ground, World No 3 Saina Nehwal expressed confidence of putting up a good show in the upcoming Indian Open Super Series, which begins on Tuesday.
The Indian cricket team was given a big thumbs up by major badminton players on Saturday.
India's ace shuttler and a brand ambassador for Commonwealth Games Saina Nehwal on Saturday created a flutter by questioning the country's capability of holding such a mega event but retracted her controversial statement within moments.
After sneaking into the elite zone of top-10 players in the world India top women's shuttler Saina Nehwal has set her eyes on breaking into top-five bracket by the end of next year. The Hyderabadi ace, brimming with confidence, said she is in no mood to relax and will do whatever it takes to grab a place in the top-five ranking.
Saina Nehwal, a bronze medallist in 2012 London Olympics, dropped a place to be at ninth position, while P V Sindhu retained her 11th spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings issued on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal's hopes of defending her Singapore Open crown were dashed by Chinese Taipei's Shao Chieh Cheng in a thrilling three-game pre-quarter-final in Singapore City on Thursday. The fourth seeded Indian blew the advantage of winning the first game and suffered a 21-8, 10-21, 19-21 defeat against the world No 10 in a match that lasted 52 minutes.
It will not be a Saina Nehwal versus P V Sindhu final in the women's singles but the men's singles will be an all-Indian affair with P Kashyap and K Srikanth set to clash for the title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow.
The Indian challenge at the Swiss Super Series badminton tournament ended with Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal going down to their more fancied rivals.
Upbeat over winning the China Open and moving up to the fourth spot in the latest BWF rankings, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she is working on becoming the best in the world.
After clinching her career's fourth Super Series title with a thumping victory in the Hong Kong Open, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday said the triumph has made up for the disappointment of last month's Asian Games debacle.
After winning three successive international tournaments, badminton maven Saina Nehwal is confident of conquering next month's World Championship in Paris.
Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and boxing hero Vijender Singh are among six sportspersons who were named brand ambassadors on Tuesday for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the All-England Badminton Championships with a straight games victory over Belaetrix Manuputi of Indonesia, in London, on Thursday night. The world No 2 Indian ace won 21-16, 21-11 in 34 minutes to set up a meeting with sixth seeded Chinese Shixian Wang on Saturday.
India's top doubles badminton player Jwala Gutta on Wednesday hit out at singles star Saina Nehwal for her comments that Taufik Hidayat should accept the reality that he is a retired player and cannot get highest base price in the Indian Badminton League.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, shooter Gagan Narang and India cricketer VVS Laxman were among several sportspersons who were the part of the Queen's Baton Relay that arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was the only bright spot in what turned out to be a dismal day for the Indian badminton team as it crashed out of the prestigious Sudirman Cup after a 1-4 loss to three-time champions Korea in a Group 1D tie, in Dongguan China, on Wednesday.
In the biggest match of the Indian Badminton League, World No 4 Saina Nehwal did not disappoint.
Saina Nehwal will carry a billion hopes when she takes the court in the World badminton Championship but the ace India shuttler remains quietly confident about her chances in the event which gets underway in Paris on Monday.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal retained third place in the latest world badminton rankings, announced on Friday.
Manika Batra, who has become toast of the nation after her sensational run at the Gold Coast Games, is hoping that she has done enough to spark a table tennis revolution in India like Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu did for badminton.
London Olympics bronze medallist shuttler, Saina Nehwal notched up a comfortable straight-game victory over Thailand's Sapsiree Taerattanachai at the French Open Super Series in Paris on Thursday and stayed on course for her second successive title after Denmark Open triumph last week.
Twice World Championships bronze medalist P V Sindhu ran out of steam and was beaten by Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the quarter-finals of badminton's showpiece event, in Jakarta, on Friday. The 20-year-old from Hyderabad, who had beaten Olympic champion and former world No 1 Li Xuerui of China in the previous round on Thursday, lost 17-21, 21-19, 21-16 in 82 minutes.
